Favorite Safety Glasses

Eye protection should be protective, comfortable, and not look too weird.

Our crew wears safety glasses every day so we want those glasses to be comfortable, tough, and not look too weird. With so many styles to choose from it can be difficult to figure out which work the best. After years of wearing safety glasses I can recommend a couple of reliable standbys and a more expensive pair I recently bought and am really happy with.

Clear Glasses. The Harley Davidson HD501 are very comfortable; they don’t pinch behind the ears and aren’t heavy on the nose. When they're on you can hardly see the frame so they don’t block your view. These glasses can be found online for about $16 (and are also available with tinted lenses). If we break a pair—step on them or whatever—we order a new pair that day.

Safety Sunglasses. About 10 years ago the local lumberyard held a contractor’s barbeque and they had Edge Safety glasses on display. We tried the Dakura polarized and loved them. They cost about $15 and were really comfortable. They lasted quite a while, but when I went to buy a new pair, they pinched a lot more at my temples. This year a guy on my crew ordered a pair of Edge Brazeua Designer polarized glasses. He loves them, the frames are comfortable and the lenses don’t distort. But they don’t fit me; they pinch behind my ears and if I wear them all day they give me a headache. The Edge Brazeua Designer glasses cost about $35.

Wiley X sunglasses frequently appear in the mailings I receive from Safetyglassesusa.com but I resisted buying them because at $80-150 they seemed too expensive. I reconsidered after doing some research and finding the brand was popular with motorcycle riders, offers a variety of safety sunglasses, and has the option to be used with prescription lenses. According to their website, a local eye doctor carried the frames. I tried on the Knife model, researched it, and then bought a pair from framesdirect.com for $81. The wrap-around style provides good protection and they come with a nice case, microfiber cleaning cloth, and a foam gasket to keep dust from getting in your eyes. I took the gasket off but kept it for when I go mountain biking. They are pricier than the safety glasses I have worn in the past but after a few months of wearing them I’m convinced that they were worth it.

If you need a good pair of safety sunglasses, I highly recommend the Edge brand as a starting point. In doing research I noticed that Oakley also has ANSI Z87.1 certified lenses and the nice thing about Oakley is that you can try them on anywhere. It’s worth spending a little more money to find safety glasses that are comfortable enough to wear all day long because it would be a terrible thing to suffer an eye injury just to save a few bucks.